The aim of the backpacker usually is to carry more items, yet to have his load weigh less. Therefore, items which are compact and lightweight usually are sought over those that are heavier. To this end, numerous lightweight portable stoves have been designed specifically with the backpacker in mind which utilize either liquid fuels or gaseous fuels.
In cold temperatures, liquid fuels typically require preheating before they can be lighted for cooking in the stove. The preheating is accomplished in various ways including the use of "fire ribbon" used to heat the fuel outlet to vaporize the fuel. Vaporization of liquid fuels at high altitudes at times requires pumping of the fuel canisters to increase the pressure, as well as preheating. Another disadvantage of liquid fuels is that liquids are relatively heavy and add unnecessary weight to the backpacker's pack.
Prior art portable outdoor stoves are often top heavy and unstable, especially when loaded with pots of food. Such stoves are too tall, having too great a height to base-width ratio. This appears to be especially true of stoves utilizing gaseous fuels. Gaseous fuels, such as propane or butane, generally are contained within pressurized containers which customarily are tall and cylindrical in shape. Rather than alter the customary shape of the container, designers and manufacturers of portable outdoor stoves appear to have designed their stoves around the container. Therefore, compactness and stability of prior art portable stoves seem to be incompatible.
Backpacker stoves utilizing pressurized gas containers, especially butane containers, typically have utilized a brace or strap device across the bottom of the container to hold the container in place against the base of the pot stand assembly. The valve assembly attaches directly to the base, for example, by threading, and a needle of the valve assembly punctures and container to release gas into the valve assembly. There usually is no positive, direct attachment between the valve assembly and the fuel container and, therefore, if the brace or strap device slips, the container can drop free of the valve and ignite. Typically, once the valve has engaged the fuel container and the needle has punctured the container, the fuel container cannot be removed until the fuel is completely expended. This interferes with any disassembly of the stove to repack the stove in a compact arrangement.
Foldable pan supports of most prior art stoves, especially stoves with gaseous fuels, are made from heavy gauge wire and include framework type supports. The heavy wire supports often are not self-locking in their operational mode and require the added weight of a cooking pan to hold them in that mode. Generally there is no windscreen or the windscreen is separate from the pan support.